Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

The way space jock and cosmic smartass Buck Rogers does his thing, launched into the 25th century from 1987, the audience will soon twig that he's been deep-frozen for at least 30 years longer than the script lets on: his humour is pure Playboy '50s. Same for the sexual rivalry between Good and Bad: the competent but prudish Captain Wilma Deering ('Commander of the Earth's Defences') and languorous but evil Princess Ardala ('With a man like you, I could defy my father'). In homage to Buck's cartoon strip origins, blonde Deering wears crisp and manly uniform, while the dark Princess sports barbarian gear right out of Conan by Barbarella. At best, the formula works like vintage Bond (explicitly so in the title sequence). But too much time is wasted with stale Star Wars plagiarisms, including the screen's dullest robot. Better to have made more of the best urban gang for some time: nuclear mutants roaming what's left of Chicago.